Mick Mars Is Pretty Sure You Don’t Like Him

Even after selling millions of records with Mötley Crüe, Mick Mars feels like he'll have a lot to prove after the band finishes its final tour.

"I feel like I’m the most unpopular person on the planet. Everyone says I can’t play the guitar – I’d like them to know that I can," Mars tells Classic Rock Magazine in a new interview. "Nobody can play like Jeff Beck. Nobody can play like Jimi Hendrix, though a lot of people try. And nobody can play like me."

Mars has plans for a solo album, which he describes as "hard rock" but cautions, "It's tough to categorize. It's not metal. It’ll make your hair fly back in the breeze." And he adds that while ankylosing spondylitis has made it too painful for him to do a lot of things ("I can’t drive my car any more, or hop on my bike. I can’t go out for a putt"), he vows to forge ahead with his life's work.

"Music is all I do," he explained. "I was driven to make it in the music world. And to this day I will not give up on anything."

Mars also has plans to write a book, which he says will be different — and harder-hitting, in some ways — than his contributions to the band's bestselling memoir, The Dirt. "After 30 years of being suppressed, I’m going to be bringing out a lot of s---," he warned. "When I was sick, everyone but my parents abandoned me. I’m talking about my siblings — I was begging for help and basically they told me to go f--- myself. I haven’t seen any of my family in 11 or 12 years, except for my son."